as Mr Collins' next possible choice. The exact wording is "Mrs. Bennet wished to understand by it [Mr Collins announcing his plan to return to Longbourn soon] that he thought of paying his addresses to one of her younger girls", which I think does tell us her thoughts, but the passage after that "and Mary might have been prevailed on to accept him. She rated his abilities much higher than any of the others; there was a solidity in his reflections which often struck her, and though by no means so clever as herself, she thought that if encouraged to read and improve himself by such an example as hers, he might become a very agreeable companion" is IMO the voice of the omniscient narrator. I cannot imagine even Mary saying to her mother or anyone else "Though Mr Collins is by no means so clever as me, I think that if encouraged to read and improve himself by such an example as mine, he might become a very agreeable companion".